MOTUS A.D.: Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

I didn’t intend to file a report on the Grammys this year, butt alas I feel compelled as the politics of race have once again injected themselves into what should have been just another celebrity self-celebratory event.

It wasn’t a shut out of black entertainers like the Oscar nominations, butt Beyoncé did not win the album of the year award as Kanye West felt she should have. So he took it upon himself, just as he did when Taylor Swift won instead of BFF Bey in 2009, to take to the stage in order to let the world know that she was robbed, again, by another blue-eyed blond.

We get it Kanye, Taylor and Beck aren’t black

And make no mistake, Kanye believes this is all about race:

"Beck needs to respect artistry, he should have given his award to Beyoncé. At this point, we tired of it. What happens is, when you keep on diminishing art, and not respecting the craft, and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration.”

Inspiration like this is hard to come by

Nor was that the end of the racism at the Grammys. I don’t really know who Zach Braff is butt he revealed himself as a racist with this tweet comparing Pharrell’s Grammy bellboy outfit to the flying monkey in the Wizard of Oz (a part which Zach apparently played – wait, isn’t that racist?).

Poor Zach, he was apparently all like “What!? That was racist!? I didn’t know that was racist!” Boy some people are so naïve when it comes to race they don’t even know when they’re being racist.

So despite MOTUS’ general “no simian references” rule, I’m going to have to cast my support with Zach on this one. I mean, come on – if you don’t want people to call you a flying monkey, don’t dress like a flying monkey. How hard is this?

Besides, Pharrell was one of our peoples of color who “delivered monumental feats of music” for the win at Sunday’s award show:

Pharrell took home two Grammys - Best Solo Performance and Best Video - for his song Happy on the night.

His performance during the award show also provoked a reaction as it included dancers in black hoodies who struck a 'hands up, don't shoot' pose - a reference to the slogan used by protesters after the Michael Brown shooting.

Unfortunately the “hands up” gesture adopted by fans of social justice everywhere to register their displeasure for racist cops everywhere turned out to be based on something that NEVER EVEN HAPPENED. Boy that sort of thing, as a rule, could get you in trouble. Butt if you’re an “artiste” doing it as part of your “inspiration” it’s considered brilliant and edgy. If I was Brian Williams I would apply for membership in THEIR union.

Anyway, getting back to Kanye’s attacks on Taylor Swift and Beck for winning their Grammy: he didn’t target them because they were blue-eyed blondes,